BJP trains civic body leaders on good governce

No change in state leadership till 2016 Assembly elections, and party will go it alone in polls: Biyak

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, February 22: The BJP in Assam is going to form citizens’ committees in all municipal boards and town committees where the party came out successful in the recently-held civic body elections so as to find solutions to local problems that are not one and the same in the state. The party has instructed all its civic body representatives who won in the recent elections to keep in touch with the local people, especially the citizens’ committees, to solve local problems. The party also imparted training to all its winning public representatives on making good governce a reality in the state. The two-day training concluded today. The tiol vice president of the party, Biyak Shahashra Buddhe, imparted the training.

Talking to newsmen in the city today, the tiol vice president of the party said: “The BJP in Assam is a fully organized party. The party workers here are an organized and disciplined lot. The party base is very string here, and that has been proved beyond doubt by the two successive wins in elections in the state in the recent past. The party workers here are a confident lot.”

Biyak further said: “There won’t be any change of leadership in the party in Assam till the Assembly elections in 2016. And the party will go it alone in the Assembly polls.” 

Dwelling on Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s letter to the Union Fince Minister requesting the latter’s intervention in the release of the Central Sales Tax (CST) dues of Assam, State party president Siddhartha Bhattacharyya said: “Such a situation could have been averted had Dispur been prompt enough in the utilization of Central funds and submission of utilization of certificates to the Centre on time.”

Bhattacharyya, however, said that since the amount sought was of Assam dues, the state would get it, but for that it had to write to the Centre.

In a letter last evening, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had requested Union Fince Minister Arun Jaitley to take steps to release the dues of Central Sales Tax to the tune of Rs. 1429.16 crore to Assam. Gogoi further stated that CST due for Assam for the year 2010-11 was Rs. 574.19, for 2011-12 was Rs. 463.76, for 2012-13 was Rs. 391.21. Non-payment of the dues has had direct impact on the fince of the state, he said.

When asked if the BJP would forge any electoral alliance any other party in the state in 2016, Bhattacharyya toed the tiol vice president’s line and said: “We’re going it alone in 2016.”

When asked on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi criticizing the BJP on various fronts, Bhattacharyya said: “I’m not going to going to react to what a senior leader like Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi says against us. In fact, we’re not worried about what others say and what other parties do. We’re too busy to keep our house in order and keep ourselves tuned to the prevailing situation in the state, instead of spending our energy for matters that aren’t ours. Dispur is our goal in 2016, and we’re getting ready to make that happen.”